Planning the Driffield Navigation
The main market town of the Wolds, in 1700, was the small village of Kilham, some 4 miles North East of Drifflield. Its further growth was restricted by lack of good transport and lack of any power source. The hamlet of Driffield had the advantage of water power and a route, by water, to the sea. Thus by 1760 the mills of Driffield were in business and the need for a reliable form of transport became ever more apparent.
The early work of Brindley had by then become well known. It was only a matter of time before a proposal to make the River Hull navigable to Driffield was suggested. Thomas Browne, Lord of the Manor at Skeins, engaged John Smeeton to advise on the construction of a canal across his land, from the "Old Paper Mill" at Driffield to join West Beck half a mile upstream from Corps Landing.
This scheme did not materialise as William Porter, the Inn Keeper of The Blue Bell, persuaded the Driffield Merchants that a more elaborate plan, offering a reliable navigation should be constructed as an ‘Amenity’ for Driffield.
Isaac Milbourne surveyed the area in 1766 and John Grundy, a Lincolnshire Engineer, presented his proposals for the Navigation in a report dated 18th December 1766. He suggested a line from the town of Driffield to the River Hull below Emmotland, with a basin at Driffield ... "to moor and wind keels in". The cost was estimated at £7, 000, and included a branch up the Beck to Frodingham Bridge. He noted that the River was already navigable to FISHOLME, though "capable of being greatly improved". John Conyers, a Maldon Solicitor, was engaged to draw up the Act of Parliament.